Organization development is an issue that includes a set of methods that lead to changes and improvement of the organization.
The concept of organizational development of an enterprise refers to a process involving a sequence of consecutive and interdependent changes in states of affairs . This process takes place in the time sequence in which the following successive changes are ordered and persist or permanently (until a crisis situation).
Each organization has its own development cycle, however there are so-called theories of life cycle indicating the existence of similarities in the development of enterprises
Typical organization life cycle phases:
- The creative phase when the organization is small and begins to grow
- Organizational maturity
- The decline of the organization.
Larry Greiner presented the most popular theory of the organization's life cycle. Greiner's model assumes that every organization solution contains a germ of crisis.
Larry Greiner model
- Entrepreneurial phase - growth through creativity, the primary goal is the survival and development of the organization. The phase ends with a leadership crisis
- The collectivity phase - the focus is on setting goals and procedures, but the organization continues to grow. There is a crisis of autonomy in this phase. Its solution is to delegate decision-making powers.
- Delegation phase - involves the decentralization of powers process. Thanks to this, the organization becomes much more flexible and the organization continues to grow . However, a control crisis may occur during this phase.
- The formalization phase - bureaucracy appears. The organization grows into control organisms, and its structure is increasingly integrated and formalized. The abuse of bureaucracy results in a briefcase crisis.
- Cooperation phase - breaking of routine and gradual decentralization. Teamwork stage, which affects the effectiveness of the organization's development. The next stage is the renewal crisis, which occurs as a result of excessive opening to the outside and flattening of structures.
